Reviews for Where the Grass Grows Green I: We May Yet Stand
Rocheryn chapter 22 . 7/19/2020
Hello Ragnelle,

I love this series! I think I have gone back and read it a dozen times. I wasn’t on when the first book was posted and came across the series towards the more recent chapters of the book. The level of detail and thought is so well done and the originality of this story is amazing. All of the other Sauron regains the ring stories that I have come across were just sappy or rushed or both. I like the balance of angst and despair with hope and suspense that is in this series.
LadyOfAnfalas chapter 21 . 1/26/2019
I just finished a rereading of We May Yet Stand (my fourth, I think) and once again I'm blown away by how good this fic is. Its just such an immersive story with so many twists and surprises. I know I've said this before and its very basic, but the CC's are so in characters, yet logically developed by time and events, and the OC's fit beautifully into the setting and seem like rounded, distinct individuals (especial love to Hurin and Fastred). The dynamics among the large group are fascinating. The setting is great too: its like a twisted mixture of the Gondor and Mordor that were before.

My favorite thing about WGGG is all the hints and clues (some of which, I'm sure, are red herrings). The use of a chronicler writing about the past works very well; the most intriguing clues are his casual hints about things that won't happen for years. (My guess is that he's Barahir) There's so many mysteries! The Dol Amroth crowd is clearly up to something, but who and what? What really happened when Bergil fell asleep on his watch? What's Hardang really doing? Is Bragloth simply betraying Eomer's group, or is something deeper going on? What do Fastred and Eomer's dreams mean!? What huge, game-changing thing is planned for the third day!? My point is, I love all the mysteries, they make the story so engrossing and are so much fun to speculate about.

Finally, some random points in no particular order. The way this story conforms to the terms the Mouth offers in RotK make it seem very true to canon and realistic to the characters. I think the blond man in Fastred's dream is actually Glorfindel, or maybe a representation of Rohan itself. I remember in a previous PM you mentioned wanting to change Eomer and Lotheriel's meeting, and while I agree that its too long an exchange to have with Aduiar and the Haradrim captain just standing there, I really like its, atmosphere, I guess? I'm not sure what to call it. I like how it concludes all the comments and foreshadowing throughout the story about Eomer's lack of a wife and how it shares the same kind of fairy tale aura of the bits and pieces we know of Lotheriel's story. I also love how Imrahil is called the sea-prince. I don't know if its your own idea or if its from someplace in canon that I'm forgetting, but I absolutely love the image it brings to mind. It sounds mystical, strong, beautiful. Moving on to On Bended Knee!
NemmNejma 21 chapter 22 . 10/16/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

Praise Be The Emperor of Mankind!

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

And Bella119 is dumb.

Hybrid of Fate is nothing. She needs mental help.

cathrl, do u want to be my daddy? I won't promise to be a good girl :D

CrystalRei should quit.

Now onto the actual review:
"Faramir," she said, and her voice broke.

Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. T_T
AsunnarX10 chapter 15 . 10/16/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

Praise Be The Emperor of Mankind!

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

And Bella119 is dumb.

Hybrid of Fate is nothing. She needs mental help.

cathrl, do u want to be my daddy? I won't promise to be a good girl :D

CrystalRei should quit.

Now onto the actual review:
I do not know how we were able to break though the lines of the enemy. In the midst of battle I could see little but the enemy before me and after we charged there was no break that would let me see how the battle went. There was little enough need; we had lost, and we knew it. All that was left was to try to save what lives I could.

Tom is a crusader. :(
Ramsayssa52 chapter 21 . 10/15/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

Praise Be The Emperor of Mankind!

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

And Bella119 is dumb.

Now onto the actual review:
Though I knew what would happen, I still did not expect the sight.

He wrote the story about the things that happened before he lived. T-T
SarShephad-89 chapter 1 . 10/15/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

Praise Be The Emperor of Mankind!

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

And Bella119 is dumb.

Now onto the actual review:
Chapter 1: The Triumph of the Shadow.

Have you ever sheared a sheep?. T_T
SanSanst86 chapter 3 . 10/15/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

Praise Be The Emperor of Mankind!

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

Now onto the actual review:
Many of those that had come from the southern fiefdoms after the capture of the Corsair fleet by the lord Elfstone wished to return south in the hope of protecting the people there, and to warn Dol Amroth of the coming defeat. They manned the Black Fleet and sailed down the Anduin, but Éomer king would not forsake the Riddermark and his own people. He sent riders to find Elfheim and bide him return to the Mark. There he would send news to all of their defeat and bid all that were left to be prepared.

It was boredom that Aldous Huxley considered one of the most dangerous human conditions. T_T
TomsaxXx95 chapter 2 . 10/15/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

Praise Be The Emperor of Mankind!

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

Now onto the actual review:
"Sister!" He reached for her, but she evaded him again. "Éowyn," he pleaded. "More than the wounded trouble you. This despair… ah, sister, do not let the darkness take you again. We can only hope that the lord Aragorn fell in battle, for now he is lost, but he would not want you lost as well. He…"

Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or a picture or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself. :-)
Elwan.29 chapter 20 . 10/14/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

Praise Be The Emperor of Mankind!

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

Now onto the actual review:
"Brother," she said, "when must we leave?"

Brahe built a castle on the island and named it Uraniborg after Urania, the goddess of the sky. :D
MLannLight.39 chapter 14 . 10/14/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

Praise Be The Emperor of Mankind!

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

Now onto the actual review:
These were the words of Éomer king, set down so that the few testimonies that remain from that time shall not be lost. I have taken it upon myself to preserve the tale of those days, for few are now alive that remember them and their bravery should not be forgotten. It is a dark tale, and I pondered long on whether such a dark tale should be told. Yet I have decided to tell it faithfully and truthfully, so that by knowing the darkness our fathers lived through, we will better preserve what light they bought us.

A shepherd had a faithful dog, called Sultan, who was grown very old, and had lost all his teeth. xD
TriumlorX20 chapter 22 . 10/13/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

Now onto the actual review:
"The Elfstone.""What will he do?""What can he?""Oh, cruel! Cruel!""Why have they brought him?""What have they done to him?""What will they do?"

What the actual fuck?!
NeArta-96 chapter 22 . 10/13/2018
Down with Critics United!

They are the cancer to our society.

The root of heresy needs to be burnt to crisp

with over thousand innocent souls without remorse or guilt thereafter.

No sacrifice is too great and no treachery too small.

Remember, we all are walking under the immortal shadow of Him.

His light shines so brightly, it will guide us to our foreseen destiny that is in our grasp.

A great moment we all should not pass.

If you are on the same page, cp this message.

Now onto the actual review:
"No," she said. "I met him in the Houses of Healing, for he was wounded, yes, but he has recovered far quicker than I. It is his duty that forbids him to abandon the City."

Give me a break :(
Guest chapter 22 . 11/14/2015
I can't decide whether I feel mad at you for such an open ending or if I'm simply excited for the next part. Probably a bit of both. ;)
But really, I enjoyed this fic tremendously. Great job with such a well crafted story. I look forward to book II and hope we'll meet a lot of these characters again then.

Thank you for writing this! 3
The Lauderdale chapter 22 . 11/12/2015
One stray typo from the previous chapter (21):
[Saw green stones and white horses, and he woke with the words of a dead man rigging in his ears.]
Should be "ringing."

-.-.-.-

Re: Échen's bindings, did they gag him? Because if they wanted to make sure to leave marks on him with their bindings, I hope it occurred to them to gag him - otherwise anyone who hears his story is likely to wonder why he didn't call out.

Randomly, I wonder how old Échen is supposed to be. Fastred thinking of him as "small one" and the gangling description in the early chapter makes me think 12, but that's a guess.

[Then he moved. *Then he moved.* Then he slowly moved out of hiding out of the shadow; out to where he could see that the Road was empty.] Beautiful use of repetition here and in the previous paragraph.

["They may have guessed that the fighting aims at freeing the king," Éomer said.] They have to have guessed it. It has to be at least one of their guesses, or they would be stupid.

["For some reason it seems as if it can mute the terror it spreads."] ...That's terrifying.

["Now lean back and think of Rohan."] 8) Nice to have a moment of humor there.

I was confused the first time that I read the end of this chapter, three years ago. I have to confess, I'm confused again, reading it now. There are many quick shifts between very short scenes and perspectives, and since this is our first mention of the Hallows in the entire story,* I had to go look it up in LOTR and then come back again. So they thought that the cells in which the king was being kept were the new dungeons, but he was actually being held in the Hallows? Or the tunnel took them (ie. Eomer and the guys with him) to the Hallows and that's where they are looking, but Aragorn isn't there? But then who is the slumped figure at the end? Who is the one seeing? Who is the one speaking? I interpret "The cell was dark" as referring to the last of the cells that Eomer and the men with him are checking, but the scene several scenes previous ("They found them locked, but even through the small barred window the torch gave enough light for them to see. / Empty.") makes it sound as if they had already checked all of them. But then otherwise...

No, I'm afraid I'm still confused, but it's the kind of confusion where I don't know if that's because:
-I'm supposed to be confused
-something wasn't written as clearly as it could have been be
-or everything has been written as clearly as it could be and I'm just really misreading something.
Very likely the latter, because I looked at other people's reviews for this last chapter and I don't see that other people are experiencing any confusion. (Although I noticed Ruanis' critique re: Lothiriel, and while I'm ready to believe that Eomer really is just that impetuous, I still find it weird how they have a whole conversation between the two of them even though, as far as I can tell, her erstwhile suitor is standing right there...)

In the meantime, it does look like Golwen sold them out, and we get this reference from a mysterious speaker to "leave the Kings to us." This might just be a fake-out built into the narrative, but I'm not optimistic. Although it occurs to me belatedly, since we have some action set in the Hallows, that "leave the Kings to us" doesn't just necessarily refer to Aragorn and Eomer...
The Lauderdale chapter 21 . 11/12/2015
[Also, the orc-army was slow to react...] You guyyyys, seriously. This is why Sauron's gonna lose. 8/ (Please allow me this little irreverence, since everything else is so serious...)

[Éomer could not have guessed how their distraction would spread; it grew as with a life of its own, fired by the fury of a people driven beyond bearing.] One wonders sometimes what the thinking of these tyrants is, or if they are even thinking at all: going out of their way to provoke situations that they are then unable to contain. I realize they wanted to make an example, but how is that coherent plan: make an example so that the people are provoked to fury so that you can then...make another example? All viciousness aside, it's kind of silly.

["You know about these things." Éomer's voice was dry. Húrin did not answer.] This seems unnecessarily rude of Éomer. Aren't his own people a nomadic lot these days, constantly on the move to avoid the Enemy?

["They left not long ago, except for that corporal. He is still outside, guarding the stable door."] Jerky guy, but his tenacity is admirable. Isn't this the man who busted his arm when he went down and was left with a limp? And actually this later - "The corporal did not smirk, or leer, or sound anything other than annoyed to be disturbed" - suggests there may be more to the guy's actions than just willful jerkiness, because he could certainly show those more sadistic qualities at that point if he wished. While the gleam Fastred thinks he saw in the man's eyes may indeed have been real, I'm inclined to think the corporal is also actually a diligent man who is doing his job. Fastred did break the rules and make a target of himself, and he is in actual fact (even though the corporal doesn't know it for a fact) every inch the saboteur that the corporal's actions are supposed to be guarding against. So I'm going to tip my hat to this man, who did his job and who died for it. He actually took the right actions, even if he was working for the wrong people.

[If there had been enough light, he would have seen Bragloth's face. Would have seen it open and unguarded, and perhaps that would have made a difference. But it was dark, and Éomer did not see.] Gasp! A traitor? Or a man with misgivings that will trip them up later?

This, the ending, and much else in the chapter, do much to build the suspense.

-.-.-.-

Random typo things!

[He had to trust his ears; he could not risk to be seen.]
This may or may not be technically correct, but it rings very strangely on the ears. One would expect to see either "he could not risk being seen" or "he could not afford to be seen."

[The braches rustled in the wind again.]
Should be: "branches."

Any others that I caught have since been corrected in your AO3 version of this chapter, so I assume you already know about them.
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